I came upon this curious annual horizontal forest at Juniper Valley Park while meandering through this oasis from city life the other day. It is a curious forest that grows up upon the cement tiles along the West side of 80th St. as the road transverses the park. There are Douglas Firs and Blue Spruce, Pine Trees and many other species. Some are 12 feet long while others are only two feet high, but they are all the discarded remains of the holiday season still exuding a strong evergreen aroma. Most are bound holding their limbs down as if they had been kidnapped and some are covered in a plastic bag to stifle their protesting cries of abandonment. Some still have ornaments that had hidden themselves away from those who stripped the trees of their ornaments and finery. Occasionally tangled tinsel that ostentatious cousin of common Easter basket grass can be observed that usually dance together around vacuum spindles after the two holidays pass. One small tree even has a tree stand still attached! All the trees look lonely and forlorn after having been the center stage of joy and celebration during the holiday season, only to be discarded like last year's fashions. Twenty-five million of the comely conifers lie cold and bored waiting for their future to be revealed in similar temporary forests all over the country. I wish I could explain to them that they have nothing to fear as they will be grounded up and seeded through parks and gardens as mulch to enrich Mother Earth and be intimately involved in the rebirth of spring.
Jim-Jan '24
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